85 new players? Inside Oklahoma State's roster ove...

playRoddy Jones: Oklahoma State is going to be dangerous offensively (0:47)Roddy Jones breaks down how Drew Mestemaker can make a positive impact for Oklahoma State this season. (0:47) STILLWATER, Okla. -- Drew Mestemaker insists he hadn't made up his mind yet. The prized quarterback had just been on a call with Oregon and felt it went well. He phoned his head coach, Eric Morris, to check in. They'd agreed from the start that Mestemaker would be a fool not to consider his options with millions of dollars on the line as one of the top QBs in the portal. While most expected him to follow Morris from North Texas to Oklahoma State, Mestemaker confessed he was still trying to work through his decision. "All right, two things," Morris told Mestemaker. He reminded his star pupil what they'd just accomplished together. In Mestemaker's first season as a college starter, he led the nation in passing yards, operated the No. 1 scoring offense in FBS and achieved a 12-2 record, the best in school history. "I was like, 'Dang, how do I go somewhere else after that?'" Mestemaker said with a laugh. Oklahoma State's newly hired coach needed a yes from his record-setting quarterback as he attempted to totally rebuild a roster in just 10 weeks, aiming to flip the worst team in the Big 12 into an instant contender. The Cowboys enjoyed a remarkable run of sustained success under Mike Gundy with 18 consecutive winning seasons. Gundy secured his eighth 10-win season in 2023. Then the program totally fell off the cliff with a 4-20 record and zero conference wins over the last two years. The winningest coach in school history was fired three games into a hopeless 1-11 season last fall. The school brought in the 40-year-old Morris and trusted him to execute a complete shake-up this offseason. He's practically leading an expansion team in 2026. Oklahoma State's 105-man roster this year will feature 85 new players, including 60 acquired in the transfer portal. Even for these endlessly transactional times for college football, this is one of the most dramatic roster flips ever attempted. The to-do list as soon as Morris accepted the job on Nov. 25: Convince Mestemaker to follow his coaches up to Stillwater. Get a dozen more North Texas starters committed to joining him. Restock every position group with the right mix of transfers and high school signees over a marathon month of nonstop recruiting, nearly 90 official visits and daily chaos. And, well, try your best to stay under budget. The new Cowboys aren't shy about saying they intend to win big right away. Nobody's urging patience or calling this a four-year process. They have a plan, and they're hoping it ends up looking an awful lot like the defending national champions. "We're trying to write the same script as Indiana," wide receiver Wyatt Young said. Eric Morris and Drew Mestemaker Doug Hoke; Bryan Terry/The Oklahoman/Imagn ImagesMORRIS HAS GONE through this before, but never to this extreme. He had highly productive offenses in each of his three years as North Texas' head coach. He just didn't have the resources to retain top talent. Each offseason brought major turnover. Morris sat down with players and tried to explain why the grass isn't always greener elsewhere. But the Power 4 money was often too good to turn down, and the financial gap kept growing. Year after year, he'd lose valuable starters. But North Texas kept finding new playmakers and kept scoring. The Mean Green were one win away from reaching the College Football Playoff last season with a roster that cost just under $1 million. As he interviewed with Oklahoma State, Arkansas, Auburn and UCLA last November and weighed his own move up, Morris knew each opportunity required different roster build-outs. There were a lot of reasons why Oklahoma State made the most sense for Morris, a Texas Tech grad who played for Mike Leach, coached under Kliff Kingsbury and knew the Big 12 well. A smaller community to raise his two growing sons. An easier 200-mile move up I-35 for his coaches and their families. A power program that needed a shot of energy and excitement after a brisk, brutal decline. Best of all: Oklahoma State was going to totally let him do it his way with his people. "This place really, really fits me," he said. "It's been the perfect move for us." At Oklahoma State, he started with a fully funded revenue-sharing budget for football of around $15 million with support to fundraise that total up to $20 million or more. Now that Morris had the funds, could he pay for his North Texas stars -- especially Mestemaker -- to stick with him? Schools began lining up for Mestemaker as soon as he started thriving last season. The former walk-on was a revelation and put up an FBS-best 4,379 passing yards -- including a school-record 608 against Charlotte -- in his first full season as a starter since ninth grade. After a 59-10 win over Washington State last September, Morris went to general manager Raj M

85 new players? Inside Oklahoma State's roster ove...

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